Shuffle Challenge: Skip Beat! v4
by Lamia of the Dark
Summary: 10 songs, 10 drabbles. Written for a "playlist on shuffle" challenge. Rules inside. Theme: The Prince Returns! KuonxKyoko pairing.


DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. In fact, I own so much nothing that it's not even funny.

**Rules:1. Pick a character, fandom, pairing, friendship, whatever.  
>2. Put iTunes or your music program on shuffle and start playing songs.<br>3. For each song, write something inspired by the song related to the theme you chose earlier. You only have the song length. No pre-planning and no writing after the song is over. No skipping songs either.  
>4. Do this for ten songs.<strong>

_Extra guidelines added by me:_  
><em>- You can go back and edit for spellingtypos but not word choice or grammar._  
><em>- Author's notes may be added after time is out.<em>  
><em>- If a stand-up comedy track or song shorter than 45 seconds long comes on, you may skip to the next song. (I've found that a 45 second track gives you time to write about 1 sentence. 2 if you're lucky.)<em>

Theme: The Prince Returns! (KuonxKyoko) All drabbles in this collection are unrelated to each other. Author's notes in [brackets]

~ Shuffle Challenge: Skip Beat! v.4 ~

- Sea Wolf, "Wicked Blood" -

He knew he shouldn't… but he wanted to see her.

He knew it was selfish, knew he would be shattering her precious dream of the fairy prince if he appeared before her this way now. But he had to see that unspoiled angel one last time before "Kuon" disappeared and his new persona was born. He would regret it later if he didn't do this.

So he plucked up his courage and asked yet another huge favor from the man responsible for saving him.

"Hey, Boss… before I become 'Ren Tsuruga', can we go to Kyoto?"

"Kyoto? What's in Kyoto?" Lory asked.

[Song ended before I got all my thoughts out there.]

- Rammstein, "Mutter" -

She wished her mother would pay more attention to her.

He didn't understand. He wished HIS mother would just leave him alone.

From their collective experience, the boy could only conclude that a mother was a terrible thing to have, in general.

It seemed they both needed to get away from their parents…

"Hey," he said. "Let's run away."

- Glee Cast, "Hell To The No" -

He picked up the stone. Could it really be…?

And then he heard her panicked wail.

"CORRRRRRRRN!"

So, this strange dark creature was really that little girl from Kyoto? It looked like they had both lost to their respective demons.

- EVE 6, "Here's to the Night" -

At the age of 25, he finally shed the persona of Ren Tsuruga and returned to his true self for all the world to see.

The first thing he did was go to a little inn in Kyoto…

He was greeted enthusiastically by a little boy who looked suspiciously like Sho Fuwa.

"Welcome to our inn!" the boy shouted, bobbing an improper bow and grinning.

"Taki-chan, how many times have I told you? Don't bother the customers!" a middle-aged woman scolded the child.

"He's not bothering me."

[Crap, song ended. I'll have to go back and do a full-length version of this one, because the idea seems too good to waste.]

- Static-X, "Deliver Me" -

He couldn't help it. When he was around her, he couldn't keep the 'Ren' persona together. Kuon - or, as she had dubbed him, The Emperor of the Night - kept coming out.

[I didn't even get an idea until the song was half played out.]

- Anri, "Love Song ga Kikoeru" -

She was still waiting for her prince, but it wasn't Sho Fuwa. Because no matter how much she loved Sho, she couldn't bear to listen to a love song that was written for another woman. She knew Sho's song wasn't for her. He had carelessly left the lyrics lying around the apartment while he was writing them, and she hadn't been able to help sneaking a peek at them. But once she read them, it was clear that the 'you' in the song was someone other than _her_.

But she remembered that there was another prince. A real prince. The prince of fairyland. Someday his wings would grow back, strong enough that he could fly freely. And then he would come for her…

- Burnthe8track, "Two Worlds Apart" -

He didn't tell her the truth. He didn't want to shatter her illusion of a beautiful dream world. She was so sweet and innocent, and he didn't want her to ever find out what a harsh place the world could be. He had already experienced what a terrible place the real world could be. Fairyland sounded like a much better place to live.

- Smash Mouth, "All Star" -

He wondered all the time how that girl was doing now. It had been ten years since then. She must be in high school by now… Probably living happily ever after with her precious Sho.

Maybe, when he was finally able to be himself again, he would go see her.

[Shuffle is picking some awfully ironic songs for this theme, lol.]

- Paramore, "Emergency" -

Now was probably a bad time to tell her.

She was lying in a hospital bed, sobbing into Kanae Kotonami's shoulder while Yashiro, Lory, and Maria looked on anxiously.

Now was probably the worst time to tell her.

Just a few hours ago, she had been raped in the woods at Karuizawa by some Visual Kei freak who had a beef with Sho Fuwa.

Now was the most essential time to tell her. Because if she was pregnant by that freak, he was going to marry her and claim the child.

[And, of course, the thing he was going to tell her is the truth about who he is… because his real name will have to appear on the marriage license. I didn't get a chance to mention it in the story, but Ren had Yashiro call Kanae and tell her what happened, and she was brought to the hospital by Lory. Maria tagged along when she heard something was wrong with Kyoko. So that's what they're all doing there… yes, I seriously thought it out that far but just didn't get a chance to cram all the details in there while I was struggling with the phrasing of certain lines. And using the author's notes to explain those unwritten details is probably cheating…but I did it anyway, so there :P nyah!]

- Metallica, "The End of the Line" -

As Ren Tsuruga's popularity began to decrease, he realized that maybe he would truly never be able to reach his goal of defeating his father, never be able to return to being Kuon.

Never see her again.

He had promised himself that once he was able to return to his true self, he would go and see her. The sweet angel he had left behind in Kyoto so long ago…

It wasn't like she was waiting for him. She thought that he had returned to Fairyland and she would never see him again.

But she must be grown up now. She would be in high school now - too old for fairytales. She must have realized by now that her "fairy prince" was just some boy with blond hair that she had met randomly in the woods back then.

[This song is really long, but I was done before it finished playing.]

~end~

**A/N: Reviews are love!**


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